Sinabung , Indonésia : The death toll from Indonesian volcano rises to 6.

Mon, May, 23, 16
Posted by : Georges VITTON

The death toll from Indonesian volcano rises to 6.

May 22, 2016. The death toll from the volcanic eruption of Sinabung in western Indonesia has risen to six, said an official Sunday, with fears that more people could be trapped by hot ashes. Three people also remain in critical condition after the active volcano on the island of Sumatra triggered off a series of eruptions Saturday afternoon, according to the spokesman of the Agency for disaster , Sutopo Purwo Nugroho .

“Nine people were hit by hot clouds. Six died and three others remain critical with burns,” he has said, adding that the injured were taken to hospital. The victims were all farmers in the “red zone” – an area four kilometers from Sinabung declared off limits by government authorities for security reasons – when they were engulfed by pyroclastic clouds.

These pyroclastic flows moving quickly with hot gas and rock that can reach 700 degrees Celsius as they descend on the sides of the volcano. The teams of search and rescue carefully roamed the houses and farms in the village of Gamber, where residents were ordered to evacuate in late 2014 due to the unacceptable risk of lava flows, dense ashes and volcanic rock falls.

“We do not know exactly how many people were in the village of Gamber when hot clouds descended,” has he said, adding that emergency teams are wary of the risk of further eruptions. “He should not have had any public activity in the red zone. Many live in temporary shelters and started to move to their farms for economic reasons, despite repeated warnings, he added.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced since the Sinabung was reactivated in 2013 after a period of inactivity. He bursts periodically dramatically, with sending columns of ash several kilometers into the sky. Already sixteen died during a particularly fierce eruption in 2014, and the Sinabung rest at the highest alert level .